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Business Daily

Factual: Money

The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.

Business Daily: Tax is good! 

03/08/2010

Tax is good! 

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Tax is good!

Why a smile is bringing in more revenue for tax collectors in Sierra Leone

Why tax is 'the price we pay for civilisation'. We meet tax collectors in Sierra Leone who say a friendly approach and a smile can bring in more revenue.

Tax is good.  

The American judge, Oliver Wendell Holmes junior put it this way: "Taxes are the price we pay for civilisation".  

But how do poorer countries, for example in Africa, actually establish a working tax base? The BBC's Umaru Fofana has been out and about with a tax inspector in Sierra Leone.

Plus, Lesley Curwen talks to Nkosana Moyo, the Chief Operating Officer of the African Development Bank, about what happens when small companies avoid getting registered in order to escape paying taxes. 

And Professor Paul Collier, Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, explains why every state needs to establish a working tax system.

Plus, Marie Edwards, from the UK's tax collection agency, tells Lesley Curwen about the history of some of Britain's more peculiar taxes, including a tax on dogs.

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